-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Mother Nature showed her extremes across the United States on Tuesday , with another day of dangerously hot temperatures broiling the Southwest while parts of the Northeast grapple with flooding from torrential storms .

Temperatures across much of the West will soar 10 to 20 degrees above average on Tuesday , the National Weather Service said . Forecasters issued excessive heat warnings for large swaths of California , Nevada and Arizona through the Fourth of July .

By noon , the mercury had hit 98 degrees at Reno , Nevada ; 109 at Las Vegas ; 104 at Yuma , Arizona ; and 118 in Furnace Creek , California , in Death Valley -- where the heat was so intense over the weekend that it melted shoes . Triple-digit forecasts were posted as far north as Spokane , Washington , and the Idaho panhandle .

`` Many of the same locations that broke records recently could shatter records again on Tuesday , '' the weather service said .

That 's dreadful news for much of California , Nevada and Arizona , states that have all seen temperatures top 120 degrees in the past few days .

Forecasters in Las Vegas noted that a similar heat wave in 2005 killed 17 people . They urged neighbors and relatives to check on those most susceptible to heat-related illness -- children , the elderly and the chronically ill .

`` This is a life-threatening heat event for those at risk , '' the advisory warned .

Heat hurts your insides , too

Because heat stroke or heat exhaustion can strike within minutes , hundreds of Las Vegas residents have sought relief in a Salvation Army cooling shelter .

`` Not only do they get -LRB- from -RRB- the cooling station the benefit of the water that we put out , but they can also take showers , if they need to , in here for free , '' Andre Ingram of the Salvation Army said . He said anyone who comes in can get as much ice-cold water as they need , when `` normally they walk around just looking for it . ''

The extreme heat is hindering efforts to stop Arizona 's Yarnell Hill wildfire , which has scorched more than 8,400 acres -- about 13 square miles of land .

The fire killed 19 members of an elite firefighting squad on Sunday when fierce , erratic winds whipped the fire in different directions . Parched land from Arizona 's drought is also fueling the fire .

East Coast deluged by rain

Much of Arizona would love to get more rain . But residents on the East Coast are seeing too much of a good thing .

Showers and storms will stretch from Florida to New England through Thursday , dampening the Independence Day holiday , the National Weather Service said .

That 's on top of the rainfall that quickly flooded parts of New Jersey on Monday and stranded motorists in Paramus .

`` I did n't think that was going to happen , but it was up to my knee when I got out of my car , '' Caroline McCourt told CNN affiliate WABC .

Thunderstorms also produced three small tornadoes in Connecticut and New Jersey on Monday , but there were no reported injuries , the weather service and local authorities said .

An EF-1 twister with a top estimated wind speed of 86 mph skipped across 2.5 miles of Windsor and East Windsor , Connecticut , knocking down trees and blowing out electrical transformers there , Windsor Locks Police Capt. Chester Degray said .

An EF-0 -- which packs winds between 65 mph and 85 mph -- touched down in Greenwich , Connecticut , about 35 miles north of New York , inflicting similar damage , the weather service said . Another EF-0 went through Berkeley Heights , New Providence and Summit , New Jersey , about 15 miles west of Newark .

Drivers in Durham , North Carolina , also had to push their cars out of floodwaters on Monday . And the flooding could get worse -- cities from Georgia to New England could see 2 to 3 more inches of rain in the next few days .

CNN 's Matt Smith , Lawrence Crook , Morgan Winsor , Dan Simon and Ivan Cabrera contributed to this report .

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NEW : Triple-digit temperatures forecast as far north as Spokane

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Much of the West could feel temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal

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Newly shattered heat records in the Southwest could be broken again on Tuesday

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Showers and storms are forecast from Florida to New England